Who Knows What's Ahead
by verystressedout
Summary: And eleven year old stood at the base of the pillar, James Potter didn't know what his life would have in store for him, then he made new friends, and his destiny wasn't the only one that had changed. Sirius never fell in line with his mom's beliefs, and Remus didn't know how to reach out for help. How will these three bring about the best in eachother as time goes on?
1. New Beginnings

James Potter stared ahead at the brick wall standing in front of him.

Muggles bustled around him, hurrying to get where ever their boring lives needed them to be at, but he couldn't stop grinning. Today would be the first day of the rest of his life.

If only there would be a break in the dang people, he could actually go through the barrier! _Ughh_ , he thought, crossing his arms.

His parents were waiting on the other side of the magical pillar already, and James was struck waiting. His grin faded a little to an annoyed expression. All he wanted to do was yell, "OI, I AM TRYING TO GET SOMEWHERE!" His great day was starting to fizzle into mild aggravation.

"Trying to get to the Hogwarts Express too?" Came a voice to Jame's right, he looked over to find a guy who looked around his age was leaning over his luggage. The eleven year old had shaggy black hair, dark eyes, and a cocky grin that mirrored the one James had been wearing until a minute ago. He seemed very at ease with being alone. It didn't look like he had anybody with him, or maybe his parents were waiting on the other side of the barrier just like James's. Funny, he hadn't even seen him walk over.

"Yeah, you?" James asked, keeping his eyed peeled for an opening, he saw that in around ten seconds there's be a gap in people walking past. "Hold on mate, we talk in a minute, we need to go through the barrier right around..."

The gap had opened and he pushed his trolley as fast as he could through the brick pillar, closing his eyes at the last possible second out of reflex.

When he opened his eyes he was surrounded by swishing cloaks, suits, luggage, and lots of loud chatter. The boy glanced up at the clock and saw that he still had a decent amount of time to get on the whistling train, but decided to wait for the dark haired boy.

Sure enough, he came through, instead of at a run like most people, he just sauntered through the pillars. "Hey." He told James and held out his hand, "Name's Sirius, your's?" "James Potter-"

"James, what too you so long to get through?" His mum's voice questioned from behind him, and he turned to find his mum, Euphemia standing behind him. "Oh, sorry dear, I see you were with a friend." She quickly apologized after catching wind of Sirius standing there. He shrugged a little, still grinning, and flashed James an unreadable look. Was it envy?

James's dad, Fleamont, soon joined his wife and walked over to James. "Ready?"

All he wanted to say was: "Duh." but he figured that would earn him a scolding from his mom, which, call him crazy but he didn't want to suffer that embarrassment in front of his future classmates and their family. "Yeah." He simply replied, finding himself smiling out of anticipation again. His mum walked over and tried to sweep his unmanageable messy hair out of his face and pushed his circular glasses up his nose a little.

"Good luck James, I love you." She told him, kissing his forehead before she stepped away.

Instead of trying to straighten his hair, he dad ruffled it up more earning a sigh from his wife, and he smiled at his son. "Have fun. Write if you need anything, alright?" "I know, I know. Love you guys too." James told him, his face burning a little. He didn't need coddling, he was eleven, he was growing up and wished his parents saw that.

Plus, from his few words with Sirius, he figured the boy wouldn't let him live it down.

He waved and walked over to the train, Sirius quick to follow. "Sorry about that." James apologized, wanting to kick his trolley out of embarrassment. Sirius on the other hand just shrugged again. "It's alright, it's nice to see. My mum didn't even come to see me off, dropped me off at the front of the station with nothing more than a 'Don't disappoint me.'."

Sirius rolled his eyes, frowning as he eyes fell. "Lovely woman, my mum. Really gives the Black family a good reputation."

 _The Black family_? James thought, his eyes narrowing. He had heard of them before, his parents grumbling about a dark wizarding family. Pureblooded, naturally. Funny, he never heard anybody mention that they had a son. "You're a first year right?" James asked, and Sirius nodded in rely. "That's a relief, I'll actually know somebody in our year." James said, punching Sirius's shoulder as they arrived at the train and hauled their luggage into one of the cars. They looked for an empty compartment and found one towards the back of the train.

When they finally had their things all shoved up in the racks above the seats, James flopped down onto the soft cushions.

The dark haired boy sat down across from him, leaning on the arm cushions in a relaxed way. "About what you said with the knowing somebody in your year. That's probably going to be it. Odds are I'll be put in Slytherin."

James looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "And do you want to be in Slytherin?"

He didn't frankly care about Slytherin, he didn't like what he had heard about them, and new how most of them turned out. Bad.

"I'm supposed to-" "Do you, or do you not?" James asked, sitting up as he swung his legs onto the ground, he pulled out his wand from his jacket and twirled it absentmindedly in between his fingers.

"Not really." Came his friend's voice after a minute of silence.

James nodded and little and pointed his wand at him, "Then you probably won't be put in. The Sorting Hat would be a prick if it put you in there." Things tended to be black and white with James.

Either you liked something, or you didn't.

You wanted to be put into a house, or you didn't want to be put into a house.

Yes. Or no.

James was just about to say something else when there came a quiet knocking at the door to their compartment.

A scrawny boy with light brown hair, a bit better kept than James, wearing shabby robes was standing at the door. "Um...I couldn't find any other compartments, mind if I sit in here?" The kid's voice shook a little, it didn't take a genius to see that the guy was shy and a little awkward. Sirius looked over at James as if to see if it was alright.

James tapped the empty seat next to him with his wand and smiled at him. "Join the party."

A minute later, after helping the kid put his surprisingly light luggage up above them, James looked at their new companion. "So what's your name?" "Remus Lupin."

"Sirius Black." Sirius gave a nonchalant one-handed wave.

Finally James introduced himself, grinning at Remus. "And I'm James Potter."

"You two seem close, how long have you been friends?" Remus asked, sitting down, looking stiffer than a board. If the kid was strung up any tighter, James could played him like a violin. Either Remus had major anxiety, had a secret, or slept uncomfortably last night which severely ruined how he acted around people.

Something told him it wasn't the latter option.

The pair, Sirius and James, laughed. James shook his head. "We seriously met fifteen minutes ago." "Oh. You guys just seemed so comfortable around each other I thought...ah, nevermind." Remus said, shaking his head as there was a loud whistle.

If anybody hadn't got on the train, out of the window, James could see that people were down sprinting to catch the train. Kids waved out of the window to their parents who were standing while they watched their child leave.

None of the boys in the compartment seemed to be too concerned about leaving their families.

It wasn't that James hated his parents, on the contrary, he loved them. They could be a little overbearing at times, and their coddling could be suffocating. He needed to find his own way, and be his own person, and he couldn't do that if they were always there holding his hand. He knew that they were starting to realize that too, and that gave him conflicting feelings. He didn't now the full extent of Sirius's relationship with his mom, but he figured he was more than happy to get away from her.

As for Remus, well, he intended to find out more about the shabby guy. "So you're a first year I take it?" James asked, and Remus nodded, "Are you guys?"

Sirius rolled his eyes, "No, we're just midget seventh years." James could've reached out and touched the sarcasm dripping off of his friend's voice.

Remus laughed a little, and it was only then that James noticed he had three pale scars running down the left part of his forehead and partially down his cheek. Now how in the world could an eleven year old have scars like that?

"Um...do you want to ask me about something? You're staring." Remus muttered, his small smile faded. Sirius ran a hand through his hair, his eyes flicking over to Remus. "He's looking at your scars."

The eleven year old's face went blank and he was silent for a little bit. "Just a bad accident, I'd rather not talk about it."

Everything about the topic of scars sent up red flags, course James was still interested in what had happened. But he would tell them in his own time if at all.

"Alright, fair enough." James replied, holding up a hand.

A moment of silence passed, and Jame knew that if he didn't say something an oppressive silence would consume them. If there was something James couldn't stand, it was silence.

He leaned forward so that he was resting his knees on his legs and he looked over at Remus. "You're a muggleborn?" He asked, and Remus looked over at James. "Half-blood. Mum's the muggle."

Sirius looked up at Remus's luggage and folded his arms. "Did you get all the supplies you needed?" "I got most of what I need...parchment I'm running low on.." He muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

James noticed there were quite a few patches on his robes.

A silent message passed between James and Sirius as they looked over at each other. "We're taking this guy under our wing."

"Hey, I have more than enough, and if I ever need more I can write to my mum and dad." James explained to Remus, smiling over at him and Remus looked at him surprised.

"No, I couldn't take your things-" He started to protest and Sirius rolled his eyes. "We aren't just going to let you go without supplies, Remus, so you might as well accept it."

For a moment, Remus didn't say anything, but his eyes seemed to get glassy. Like he couldn't imagine anybody doing anything like this for him. "Thank you." Sirius waved his hand aside dismissively and looked out of the window as the train pulled off, making everybody in the cabin sway a little. "Don't thank me, odds are I probably won't even be doing half the assignments." A laugh escaped Sirius as he finally seemed to fully relax at the thought of going to Hogwarts.

Remus looked out of the window at the passing families and his eyes seemed to linger on a couple towards the back of the crowd, who looked worried and nervous. A nearly inaudible sigh escaped Remus as he sat back in his chair, tapping his foot on the ground. Probably a nervous habit, James guessed.

"Nervous?" He asked Remus, who looked over at him. "A little." He replied. "I don't know what house I'm going to be put into. Do you?"

"I'm kind of hoping for Gyffindor." James explained, "And Sirius doesn't want to be put into Slytherin so there's that."

Their new friend narrowed his eyes at them. "I know what you're talking about...but what exactly are the houses? Dad never got the chance to explain to me."

Sirius shrugged and over at me like he didn't feel lie explaining. _Lazy arse._ James thought, but couldn't help but grinning a little as he thought that. "Alright, I'll try and sum it up as best as I can. Each house was named after one of the four founders of Hogwarts. Slytherin is named after Salazar Slytherin, they're determined and cunning. There's Ravenclaw, named after Rowena Ravenclaw, those are the wise. Helga Hufflepuff founded Hufflepuffs and they're the kind and loyal. Finally, there's Gryffindor, named after Godric Gryffindor. They're brave, and chivalrous."

Remus nodded, his eyes were trained on James, like he was trying to soak in anything he said, and remember it for later. His brown eyes drifted over to Sirius, who was now lying on the cushions, looking up at the ceiling, most likely day dreaming. "Wait...so why don't you want to be a Slytherin, they didn't sound that bad."

That got Sirius's attention.

He didn't sit up, but his expression soured. "Most of them turn to the Dark Arts, and my oh-so-lovely mum wants me to be in that house too. Join their ranks."

"Join what ranks?"

"You don't know?" Sirius replied looking over at Remus who seemed just as confused as ever.

(When you're thrown into a world of magic, James suspected it must throw you for a loop, he couldn't lame Remus for asking a lot of questions...though how he didn't know about _him_ was beyond the youngest Potter.)

 _Can you believe it?_ Sirius asked James silently and James held up a hand telling him to lay off a little.

Sirius sat up and crossed his arms. "Your dad didn't tell you about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named?"

Nearly every wizard knew about You-Know-Who. He hadn't been around for long, but he had already left a path of death and destruction in his wake. Any witch or wizard worth their salt knew that even mentioning his name could send everybody into a frenzy.

Remus shook his head and Sirius nodded grimly. To anybody else, it would be weird to see three eleven year old's acting so serious and grim. Well, being in the wizarding world, at a time like this...it wasn't too uncommon. James suspected there were at least a dozen other cabins quietly whispering about the very same subject to each other.

"Probably for the best," Sirius sighed, and he sat forward. James suddenly realized, because of his family, he probably knew more about You-Know-Who than most other people. Even his parents, "anyhow, he's basically the darkest wizard since Grindelwald. Trying to become the most powerful dark wizard of all time and wants to eradicate all muggleborns. Bad. News."

Well, James couldn't have explained it any better if he tried.

"Oh." Was all Remus could reply with and he bit his lip a little. "Your mom wants you to join him? I couldn't imagine."

All Sirius did was shrug, and James wondered to what extent his mom would go to to make sure that Sirius would do it. "Well, I'm not, don't worry."

Now they were buzzing through the country, long plains of green fields flying by them as the train picked up speed. The trolley lady passed them asking about candy. "Hello dears, candy from the trolley?"

Instantaneously, James jumped up. "Yeah, give me six Chocolate Frogs, three Peppermint Toads, and two Berts Every Flavor Beans." He said feeling like he said it rather faster than he would have preferred. six sickles and a minute later, he came back into the compartment with an arm full of sweets.

He could've sworn both Remus and Sirius were drooling. James tossed two of the Chocolate Frogs to Remus and two to Sirius. Remus looked at it like it was the best thing he had ever seen, while before James could blink Sirius had already torn open the wrapper and scarfed one of them down. It looked like Remus almost didn't want to eat it, just admire it. "Hey, Remus, you know you can eat it. I did buy it for you."

"Oh...right, of course." He replied, carefully unwrapping it.

James also tossed the Peppermint Toads two them as well and lounged back in his seat. "So Remus, you have any idea what house you'll be put into?" Sirius asked, stuffing another frog into his mouth. Remus looked up as he nibbled on his frog.

He looked up at Sirius quietly and held his Chocolate Frog in his lap. "I don't know...Maybe Ravenclaw? I've always had a knack for academics..but there's no way I'd be in Gryffindor, I'm not brave."

"I don't believe that." James said, raising an eyebrow as he adjusted his glasses. They always tended to fall to the tip of his nose. "Why not?" Remus asked, looking at James like he was a puzzle, trying to figure out his train of thought. You know, James himself seemed to have trouble even figuring out his own train of thought.

When James had a feeling about something, they were usually right. A solid 88.7% of the time, at the least.

"I have feeling that if the time ever came you'd surprise everybody, if you're a Ravenclaw though, I'm coming to find you to help me with my homework." James said, before opening up his own Chocolate Frog and popped it in his own mouth, wondering if that was how a squirrel feels whenever it shoves acorns into its mouth.

Remus got a kick out of that, James was glad he could make Remus smile. Odds were he didn't often. Maybe it wasn't because of his parents but Remus gave off a serious air of isolation.

"Alright, James, deal." Remus said and Sirius threw a small piece of his frog at Remus. "Hey, I better be included in this pact you're making." "Of course." Remus assured him, his smile not fading.

The rest of the train ride was relatively uneventful, but not in a bad way. Three new friend, just talking, trading stories, laughing at the awful faces they would make when they'd get a bad jelly bean flavor. They'd watch the scenery pass, and things like that.

Finally, the sun had set over the horizon and woods had engulfed the train. "We're almost there I'm guessing, you guys should probably get changed." Remus told them, and James nodded. "Alright, be back in a few minutes." James replied, standing up.

With one last look out of the window, and one at his two friends, he left the compartment.


	2. The Sorting

Sirius returned to the compartment after getting changed into his robes and found a lake had emerged into view. A castle loomed over the lake, with a bridge leading into the woods, and tall towers that scraped the sky. His mother had tried to describe it, but her word hardly came close to doing the magnificent castle justice.

He stood fixated on it, just like his two companions in the compartment.

James' eyes danced as he looked at it, and it didn't take much of a brain to tell that all he wanted to do was to jump off the train and start running towards Hogwarts.

Remus was speechless, his mouth hanging open a little. It looked like he was trying to soak in very detail so that he wouldn't forget it. Even though the three had only known each other for a handful of hours, Sirius had a pretty good idea of their personalities.

James was looking for an escape, and had a fire in his eyes like he felt he had to prove himself. He was cocky, and didn't doubt himself much.

Remus was slightly on the awkward side of things, but he was smart an observant. Also, he had a secret he didn't seem to keen on telling. It was obvious as the scars on his face.

There was a whistle that came from James. "You two ready?" He asked and Sirius shrugged, "I guess so, what about you, Remus?"

Remus remained quiet, all he could to was nod. His eyes were trained on the castle.

Sooner rather than later, the train pulled to a stop, making everyone sway where they stood and sat. They were stopped at a train stop, a stone platform with a sign that read Hogsmead. Everybody was piling to get of the the Hogwarts Express, and on their way to the nearest door somebody ran into James.

A runty kid with stringy black hair, and dark eyes stood in front of him with an unreadable expression. James frowned at him. "Hey slimeball, watch where you're going!" He exclaimed before weaving his way to the door, the dark eyes boy glared at James as he passed.

After making their way off the train, the crowd of students were milling around, some were waiting for their rides to get to school, and Sirius wondered where he should go when he heard a loud voice. "Firs' years this way!"

It was coming from a giant man, easily towering over the tallest seventh year. The man-giant was holding an enormous lantern, with an impressively bushy and long beard to match.

He saw Remus through the crowd, standing next to James and he weaved through the other first years to catch up wit them.

James seemed to have a soured mood, in front of them the greasy haired boy was standing next to a girl with shoulder length dark red hair and green eyes. They were laughing. "Honestly, how does a weirdo like that get to be friends with a girl like that?" James didn't bother to keep his voice down, and Sirius had thought the same thing after seeing her.

"Maybe his family is loaded?" He chuckled, and the girl turned around, casting them a glare that could rival Medusa's. She looked like she wanted to use some very colorful words but restrained herself and kept walking, ushering her friend to walk a bit faster.

They went walking for around six minutes on a downhill trail that was leading to...well, Sirius didn't know where it was leading. There were some lights strung up in the trees, illuminating the normally dark path, but even so he caught several students tripping over themselves as roots seemed to appear out of nowhere. On a few occasions, he nearly fell too, but he managed to catch himself.

Finally, they got to the docks, where they were met with numerous boats that could sit around four per boat, and inky black waters that were glittering with the golden light coming from the castle overhead.

There was a single lantern for every boat, and James, Remus, and Sirius all piled in one of the boats that was closest to them. The red-head got into one of the boats towards the front, purposefully putting distance between the three friends and herself and her friend.

It wasn't like she could avoid them forever, especially if they were placed in the same house. Sirius looked over his shoulder at James, who was sitting by himself in the back. "Hey, I bet five sickles that she gets places in one of our houses." "You're on." James replied, laughing when a quiet voice from their right greeted them.

"Um...h-hi. Do you mind if I sit with you...?" A small, pudgy boy with blond hair asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his hands.

"No, come on." James told him, scooting over a little more to give the boy some room.

That poor guy carefully tried to step in as if he was worried that one wrong move could capsize the boat. A minute or so passed and he had successfully entered the boat.

The boats jolted away, like thy were just waiting for him to get into their boat. "I'm Peter Pettigrew.." He murmured, barely seeming to get that out.

Sirius nodded, "Hey Peter. I'm Sirius Black," he pointed to Remus, "that's Remus Lupin," and finally he pointed to James, "And that there is James Potter."

The boat ride was uneventful, but it was definitely something he wouldn't forget. Seeing the castle slowly get closer and closer didn't make it seem smaller, like some people might expect, but it seemed even bigger.

Eventually they got to the docs, where a huge staircase awaited them. _Great_. He thought, climbing out of the boat. He hadn't noticed at first but there was a woman at the top of the staircase, which wrapped around a corner so he was sure that there was more to it.

Whoever the woman was, most likely a teacher, had long deep purple robes, emerald glasses, and had a bun (it was so tight that Sirius wondered if it was healthy for her brain's circulation), and a pointy hat. "I'm Professor McGonagall, please follow me. Don't fall behind." Though her voice didn't have any venom to it, her stern face told everybody that it wouldn't be good to make her angry.

As the three started to walk up the stairs, carefully trying not to step on the other student's robes, Peter trailed hot on their tails. It was as if he was worried that if he fell behind the other students would swallow him whole. Peter reminded Sirius of a little duckling that followed his mother duck with a passion. Clearly he wasn't a leader, but a follower. He wasn't sure if that was necessarily what he'd like in a friend, but he was harmless, and hadn't said anything too aggravating, and seemed nice enough so for the moment he'd keep peter around.

When they got to a larger part of the castle, there was a set of huge dark, double doors loomed above them. Professor McGonagall stopped and looked over the first years with an almost calculating gaze. "I have to go in to get a list of your names, get in an orderly line. When I come back I'll lead you inside where you'll wait to be sorted. Once you are, you will go to the table of your house and the rest of you while you wait will be on your best behavior. Are we clear?" Though her face seemed pretty indifferent, her curt tone made everybody nod. Including Sirius.

Even though she seemed pretty cold, he figured she just had a "I'm not dealing with any ruckus" personality but was actually pretty caring. At least he was hoping for that. Otherwise it would be like dealing with his mother for the next seven years of his time there at Hogwarts.

She walked away through the double doors with a swish of her cloak leaving the children to their devices.

James kept on looking at the red head as if she were a puzzle and he couldn't wrap his mind around the pair's friendship.

From inside the hall he could hear loud noises from talking, to laughter to yells that he couldn't quite make out. Students. Some of which he would be dealing with for a long time. He wondered what would become of this night, and whether the hat would choose to put him where his family expected to go, or would throw a curve-ball his way. _Please don't put me somewhere I'll regret_. He thought, knowing he would have to adhere to wherever he was put.

Professor McGonagall returned holding a decently long list and sighed when they saw none of the students had tried to get into an even halfway decent line. She quickly got everyone into a presentable line and opened the doors as the first years walked in.

Inside was grand, it had floating candles, a clear night sky where stars glittered on the ceiling, and four long tables that were riddled with students. Tell-tale green for Slytherin, sapphire blue for Ravenclaw, yellow for Hufflepuff, and crimson for Gryffindor. James was looking at the latter with a grin on his face. He knew where he was going to end up, h was completely sure of it. Peter seemed to be avoiding looking at everybody and everything. The floor must've looked pretty interesting to him. Remus seemed to be looking between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor.

He recognized a few people at the Slytherin table, who were looking at him like he was fresh meat.

There was an old wrinkly hat sitting on the stool, the thing must've been as old as the school at least. Teacher sat at the horizontal table in front of the school, most of them he didn't recognize.

There was a murmur across the first years as people caught sight of Dumbledore. He was a legend, and he was their headmaster. He was the one ho defeated Grindlewald, and it was rumored that he was the only one that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was afraid of.

Then Professor McGonagall cleared her throat and called the first name. A brown haired guy who had the hat placed on his head for a second before the hat exclaimed, "Ravenclaw!"

The blue table burst into cheers and the boy nearly skipped over to them with a smile.

Sirius knew that he would be called up there pretty soon, being as though his last name started with a B. He just tried not to think, until he heard his name being called. "Black, Sirius." Said professor McGonagall and suddenly he felt as if lead was strapped to his ankles. James gave his shoulder a nudge and without thinking he walked up. Then he took a deep breath, what happened happened. He felt a bit better and sat down on the stool.

 _Here we go._

The hat was placed on his head, "Well look what we have here."

Sirius hadn't heard him comment on anybody else, so this took not only him by surprise, but most of the other first years. "Family or heart, that seems to be the problem, isn't it?" The hat mused, chuckling. "Well, my job isn't to do whatever your family wants now is it?"

His mind blanked and he figured what was coming next. " _GRYFFINDOR!"_ It exclaimed and the crimson burst into cheers and applause. James gave him a thumbs up and for a moment Sirius was stunned as he went to go sit down.

A few angry stares from the Slytherin table wasn't enough to damper his good mood though. He was relieved. He could deal with whatever his mom said. It was done, and nobody could change it.

A Gryffindor put his hand on his shoulder. "Congrats Sirius, certainly wasn't expecting a Black to be in our house." "Neither was I, honestly." He replied, laughing.

The red haired girl was apparently named Lily Evans, who was also sorted into Gryffindor. Lily made it a point to sit as far away from Sirius as humanly possible. Around four people got sorted into Hufflepuff, two more into Ravenclaw, three people into Slytherin and then Remus was called up.

"Hm...difficult..." The hat muttered, before straightening itself up. "There's something you don't see yet, Gryffindor!"

His eyes widened and he looked over at Sirius with a grin of pure happiness. He nearly sprinted over to Sirius, "Thank goodness I'm not in a house alone." He let out a sigh of relief, and James nodded. He couldn't say he was disappointed to have Remus in a house with him, the thought of being alone wasn't something he wanted either.

Five more kids were sorted before Peter went up, surprising everybody by being placed into Gryffindor too. He joined Remus and Sirius, sitting across from them, looking more nervous after the sorting than before. Like he had to prove himself as brave in order to properly be part of the house.

Right after him, James was called up, he had no apprehension about going up there, an the hat had barely even been placed on his head before the hat yelled, "Gryffindor!"

 _Well, aren't we just the popular house this year?_

An audible sigh/groan from across the table coming from Lily could be heard and Sirius restrained a laugh. The girl had a flair for dramatics.

James slung his arm around Sirius and Remus's shoulders, "Look at us, we're like the Four Musketeers. I was expecting to have either you," He nodded to Sirius, "or you," he nodded to Remus, "in the house with me, but all three of you?" He laughed and took his arms back. "Forget about it."

That made Sirius laugh more, and he felt better than he had in a long time. For the night, he forgot all about his family, his "responsibility" to them, and their expectations, and felt for the first time that he was his own person.

Maybe this year wouldn't be that bad.


End file.
